TY - JOUR ID - 10442/7548 A1 - Barbi, M. A1 - A1 - Lepri, S. A1 - A1 - Peyrard, M. A1 - A1 - Theodorakopoulos, N. Y1 - 2003/// T1 - Thermal denaturation of a helicoidal DNA model JF - Physical Review E VL - 68 IS - 6 SN - 1063-651X U3 - 10.1103/physreve.68.061909 PB - American Physical Society SP - 061909-1-061909–14EP - UR - https://hdl.handle.net/10442/7548 N2 - We study the static and dynamical properties of DNA in the vicinity of its melting transition, i.e. the separation of the two strands upon heating. The investigation is based on a simple mechanical model which includes the helicoidal geometry of the molecule and allows an exact numerical evaluation of its thermodynamical properties. Dynamical simulations of long-enough molecular segments allow the study of the structure factors and of the properties of the denaturated regions. Simulations of finite chains display the hallmarks of a first order transition for sufficiently long-ranged stacking forces although a study of the model’s ``universality class’’ strongly suggests the presence of an ``underlying’’ continuous transition. ER -